Chocolate Orange Flavored Honeybush from 52Teas

Caffeine-free organic honeybush blended with organic cacao nibs, freeze-dried orange sections, marigold petals and organic chocolate and orange flavors. I was a bit reluctant to offer a chocolate tea outside of traditional hot tea drinking weather, but one of my helper elves insisted there is no wrong time to make a chocolate tea. After tasting this delicious blend, I have to say I totally agree with her.

I could smell the orange as soon as I opened the pouch! The chocolate notes are less apparent than the orange but then again … oranges are a bit more fragrant than a bar of chocolate. The dry leaf has a lot of petals (these don’t really affect the flavor) and little chunks of cacao nib and dried oranges combined with the oxidized organic honeybush leaves.

When I brew honeybush (or it’s South African “cousin” rooibos), I usually brew it in my Breville One-Touch tea maker and that’s how I brewed this. I measured out 3 bamboo scoops of the tisane and put it in the basket of the tea maker, and then I poured in freshly filtered water up to the 500ml mark. I set the settings to 195°F and 10 minutes and then I left it alone to do its thing. That’s what I love so much about the One-Touch … you just put the tea and water into it, set the settings and the tea maker does the rest! Ten minutes later, I had a pot of Chocolate Orange flavored Honeybush!

The orange notes are a little softer in the brewed liquid, and I can smell notes of chocolate as well as notes of honeybush. It smells sweet, orange-y, chocolate-y and nutty.

The flavor is similar to the fragrance. The sip starts with sweet, orange-y flavors. Then I notice the nutty, honeyed flavor of the honeybush and notes of chocolate. I wish that the chocolate notes were stronger – but if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, that wish should come as no surprise to you. I always want more chocolate. More chocolate = better. Always.

As it is though, I feel that the chocolate notes here are lacking. The orange is such an abundant flavor and it seems to overwhelm the chocolate a bit.

Oh, it’s still quite a tasty blend, but this is definitely more orange than it is chocolate. I like how the honeybush melds with these flavors – the nutty, earthy notes of the honeybush work well with the richness of the cacao notes and the sunny notes of orange.

It’s a sweet, dessert-y type of tea, and because it’s naturally caffeine free, this would be a great late night snack for those who are looking for something sweet but don’t want to indulge. This is guilt free sipping!

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see.

Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog!

Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!